Stories from The Road

The Long Riders' Guild

Stories from The Road - page 1

Because it is our continuing mission to preserve the oral legends and written traditions of equestrian travel, The Long Riders' Guild website features the work of famous equestrian travel authors. However we also proudly showcase previously unpublished work by Long Riders from a host of countries.

So ride along with these intrepid Long Riders in the world's first collection of equestrian "Stories from the Road."

	Have you never wanted to get in the saddle and head for the horizon? Don’t you remember the first time you understood the freedom which the horse offered you? You are not alone! If you are thinking of turning your back on the security of home to make an equestrian journey, you are already part of an ancient phenomenon. This desire has nothing to do with money, religion, gender, language or nationality. Click on picture to read an amazing history of equestrian travel.
	After surviving a host of physical dangers and emotional challenges many a Long Rider has had to face a final dilemma. What to do with the cherished horse who has carried you so far and changed the fabric of your life? The options are never pleasant when the journey ends far, far away from the Long Rider’s home. At the conclusion of his ride through Turkey, Welsh Long Rider Jeremy James was faced with such a difficult decision. In his moving story, “The Old Man, the Lake and the Stallion,” the Long Rider known as the “poet of the saddle” shares memories of a painful past. Click on picture to read his moving story.
	No mere mileage counter, Katie Russell’s account of riding across the western American states is remarkable in terms of its emotional honesty, personal insight and equestrian wisdom. Click on picture to read this true classic available on line.
	Journey to the Western Regions - In 1414 a Chinese diplomat named Chen Cheng was ordered by Emperor Yongle to undertake a hazardous equestrian journey to the distant city of Herat. Located in today’s modern Afghanistan, Herat was then the capital of the Timurid empire. Chen Cheng’s mission was to deliver precious Chinese silks to Emperor Shahrukh. In exchange, the Chinese Long Rider was ordered to obtain a large herd of the valuable horses used by Shahrukh’s legendary mounted archers. Though a handful of scholars were aware of Chen Cheng’s journey, Dr. Sally Church recently completed the first translation of the Long Rider’s diary. The result is a day to day account which has the ring of authenticity about it. Chen Cheng, runs into many problems, all of which he records. While these include snow storms and bad trails, one of the most telling is the brief account of how the horses drown trying to cross the river. There are many occasions during the nine month journey when Chen and his friends are just too tired to continue, preferring instead to take several days away from the intense rigours of their saddles. Click on picture to read the oldest known example of an Historical Long Rider’s “Story from the Road.”
	“Why are you doing this?” pedestrians have asked Long Riders in a multitude of tongues in countries scattered around the globe. Though the answer to this ancient question is as complex as the wide variety of equestrian explorers represented by The Guild, North American Long Rider Andi Mills has expressed what may be the perfect answer to “Why?” Click on picture to read her definition!
	Not only had DC Vision never made an equestrian journey, he had never even mounted a horse! Yet that didn't stop the young man from Maine from completing a 14,000 mile spiritual odyssey through the United States. Click on the picture to read DC's story, "A Journey to Simplify Life."
	In 1925 Aimé Tschiffely, a Swiss teacher living in Argentina, set out on an epic ride with two Criollo horses, Mancha and Gato. The amateur explorer's goal was to travel ten thousand miles from Buenos Aires to Washington, DC, over some of the world's most inhospitable country. Their odyssey lasted two and a half years, forced horses and rider to survive through near-impossible conditions, and ended with a hero's welcome at the White House. Click on picture to read about the astonishing ride that changed the course of equestrian travel history forever.
	The Long Riders' Guild has received another update from Billy and Christy, the intrepid duo riding from the top of Tunisia to the bottom of South Africa. They are now in Uganda, where nobody has seen a horse since 1966. Click on picture to read the latest instalment.
	Though the Long Riders’ Guild hosts a pantheon of legends, few could equal the dangerous adventures which “Don Carlos” Thurlow-Craig survived. After have left his native Wales, the footloose youth ventured to South America, where, mounted on his trusty Criollo gelding, Bobby, he rode in Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil and the Gran Chaco jungle during the early 1920s. Click on picture to read a recollection of Don Carlos’ blazing life. It recalls a man who rode as hard as Tschiffely and wrote with as much passion as Hemmingway.
	Canadian Long Rider Bonnie Folkins’ mission is to use her horse and camera to arrive at a deeper understanding of Central Asia’s remaining nomads. Though she has travelled and photographed in Italy, India, Australia and Latin America, the impassioned Long Rider has been repeatedly drawn back to the land of horses and free riders. Click on picture to read more.
	Daniel Robinson decided to travel from China to India. The young man made a journey which required equal doses of courage, stamina and naivety, but his journey had ended with him being unfairly imprisoned. The facts of the resulting campaign to have Daniel freed are detailed in the editorial entitled “The Price of a Pilgrimage Luckily, Daniel was freed, but the location and welfare of his two faithful mules, Mae Ling and Hu Mae, remained a mystery. But in this story Daniel writes about how he was finally able to rescue the animals from Indian custody. .
	Long Rider Ed Anderson has some potentially life-saving wisdom for those planning to ride the Pacific Coast Trail, which runs from the Mexican to the Canadian borders through some of the United States' most challenging mountain terrain. Click on picture to learn more.
	Click on picture to read the most moving account of how a Long Rider feels after returning to civilization. "Last night we were dirty, isolated, and free; to-night we are clean, sociable, and trammelled." This is the final chapter in Louisa Jebb's wonderful account of her journey in Iraq and Syria at the beginning of the twentieth century.